How can I prevent developing breast cancer?
In terms of specifically preventing breast cancer, it is difficult for the average person to do something to prevent breast cancer. It's important to just take care of yourself in general terms of health. Eating a good diet, exercising, avoiding alcohol, avoiding cigarette smoking; all of those can help your general health, your cardiovascular fitness, as well as prevent other types of cancer too. Specifically for breast cancer for the average risk women there really aren't any documented risk preventions that will reduce risk. For women who are at a higher then average risk for developing breast cancer meaning; they have a family history of breast cancer, they have had early onset of menstruation, late onset of menopause, if they have never been pregnant, or if they have a history of breast biopsies, particularly a history of breast biopsies with atypical cells noted. Then they are at higher risk of developing breast cancer. We have a number of different options for reducing their risk of developing breast cancer. Tamoxaphin is the only FDA approved medication for reducing a women's risk of developing breast cancer, and in many large studies it has been shown to reduce that risk. However, Tamoxaphin has side effects, which has limited it's utility as a breast cancer prevention agent. It however may be appropriate for certain individuals, and if you're concerned about developing breast cancer it's important to have this discussion with your physician, because this medication can prevent breast cancer. A newer medication, similar to Tamoxaphin, is called Reloxafin. That's a medication which is currently being used to treat osteoporosis, as well as to prevent osteoporosis. It is a similar medication to Tamoxaphin, in that it is a selective estrogen receptor modulator, meaning that it acts on the receptor as both an anti estrogen on some tissues and a pro estrogen on others. It acts as a anti estrogen in the breast, and so it has also been shown to prevent breast cancer in several large studies. Currently it's not FDA approved for breast cancer prevention, but the company that markets it is currently seeking an FDA indication, because of the large star trial which last year presented excellent results showing a similar effectiveness to Tamoxaphin at preventing breast cancer, but with less of the concerning side effects that Tamoxaphin has. For women who have a higher risk of developing breast cancer, for instance those with RCA1, RCA2, those women who carry those genetic predispositions have an eighty five percent chance of developing breast cancer over their lifetime. For those women getting a bilateral profilastectomy may be an option for preventing breast cancer. If the majority of the breast tissue is removed the chances of getting breast cancer reduces to just a couple percent.
